2.10 Conclusion..........................................
To answer the two research questions,first, Wat Phra Dhammakaya and the abbot
were perceived as negative among online users. The temple was perceived as
influential and linked with a major political party and the members of the Supreme
Sangha Council. As a result, the temple and the abbot survived scandals and
accusations. The relationship between the temple and politics, including the Sangha
politics, indicates that Wat Phra Dhammakaya possesses“soft power”which makes
it withstand criticism and avoid court cases.
Dhammakaya is a good case to study the hybridization of the Thai religious as a
result of politico-economic influences. Marketing strategies, such as enticing the
public to donate more and more for heavenly life after death, or persuading the
public to make merits on the mass pilgrimage in the urbanized areas, and so on, are
what the temple has been implementing for the past 30 years. This is obviously a
merging of consumerism and Thai Buddhism. Hence, the second research question
is answered.
Well noted that when the Phue Thai party was in power, many lawsuits against
Dhammakaya were dropped. At the time of writing this article, under the new
military government, the DSI is still investigating the case of Dhammakaya, even
though the SSC did not want to do anything.
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2.10 Conclusion 33